Penn State starts strong, handles Buffalo

Yanic Konan Niederhauser scored a season-high with 27 points as Penn State defeated visiting Buffalo 87-64 on Sunday in University Park, Pa.

Niederhauser, a transfer from Northern Illinois, shot 12 of 16 from the field to spearhead a 56.5 percent shooting effort (35 of 62) by the Nittany Lions (7-1). Freddie Dilione V contributed 16 points and Nick Kern Jr. chipped in 12 points, while Penn State leading scorer Ace Baldwin Jr. dished out 10 assists but was held to five points.

Ryan Sabol scored 19 points to lead the Bulls (4-4), who shot just 7 of 27 from long distance with Sabol accounting for five of those makes. Brayden Jackson added 11 points off the bench.

Penn State led by 10 points at halftime and still held a comfortable 45-36 advantage with under 15 minutes left in the contest when the Nittany Lions unleashed a 10-run to take firm control.

Kern began the surge with a layup before Zach Hicks knocked down a 3-pointer. Niederhauser took care of the final five points, including a three-point play, as the Nittany Lions grew their lead to 55-36.

Shortly thereafter, Niederhauser's dunk pushed the lead north of 20 for the first time.

The Bulls whittled their deficit to 10 with about eight minutes to play, but Kachi Nzeh and Niederhauser each threw down dunks and Dilione drained two 3-pointers and converted a layup, helping his team build the advantage back to 78-55 with 3 1/2 minutes remaining.

The Nittany Lions led by as many as 26 points down the stretch.

Penn State led 15-6 after 11 minutes, but Buffalo stayed within striking distance and got within 18-14 on Tyson Dunn's layup.

Dilione and Niederhauser took turns scoring to help rebuild a nine-point cushion. Baldwin's 3-pointer created a double-digit lead (36-24) for the first time, and the Nittany Lions led 38-28 at the break.

Niederhauser led all scorers with 10 first-half points.

--Field Level Media